woot/...""atheism is not a stance on anything.""

yet at his next post

""This is the major goal that I see
in approaching the issues of faith.

Not to remove it, but to have it put
in its proper place..of simply a belief with no evidence.""

it would be futile to point out the holy yext
is an evidence..[even if you fail to see it as such]

but you continue
with these "major goals"
and.....""atheism is not a stance on anything.""

""-If religion did not have the influence in politics,
education and society as it did, the AFA would not exist.""

to wit goal one to eliminate
''the influence'

""Non believers would not feel it necessary
to confront its claims.""

yet as your ongoing posts indicate
you ""..feel it necessary
to confront its claims.""

""-The convention theme is a Celebration of Reason,"'

to wit goal 2 is to balance 'un-reason'

""this is what we are doing.""
to wit not ignoring nothing
cause your trying to limit 'something'

""-The convention is raising the fact atheists exist,""

gee..there is 'something'..we couldnt have guessed
a copnvenmtion to get together a group
who believe others are beliving...in 'nothing'

[adgenda 3..to get these believing in nothing
tio believe in something..based not on abolute fact
but by books..WHOLE BIG BOOKS on why something[my belief]..is a belief in 'nothing"

""is it is ok to be an atheist""

sure believe or dont believe
thats your choice

but dont forget..your first c-lame is
you dont believe in nothing..that that something i chose to believe in is nothing

SO MUCH SO..david threatens to re-educate me..
to believe in nothing

""and you can be good without god.""

do you got any evidense?

""..As non believers"'[believing in nothing
""we are working toward strengthening secularism""
ie nothing,

""which protects the religious
and non religious alike.""

except where david threatens to
re?..de-educate us?
till we believe nothing?

""That takes confronting the beliefs and faith
that are the basis for religious privilege..and showing it to be nothing more than a belief.""

in nothing

lol

continues

woot/.....""look at the lack of evidence from the atheists
to prove my god does not exist!'...trying to hide the fact you have NONE yourself..by pointing at others,

trying to state..they are making a claim""

lol
your so putting so much thought
into my belief in 'nothing'.

so much saying to reveal nothing

""Simply put,you have no evidence for your position""
and you have plenty of evidense
for nothing...lol

'"and rather than face that
it is much easier for you to try and make out..atheism to have the same faults..your absent god concept has.""

im agruing for something
your arguing you got nothing

we all know the proof you got
nothing

""You throw your hands up in the air
calling for evidence,while producing absolutely none..for you claims.""

my god has told our messengers..that what a man choses to believe or NOT believe..is HOLY...wholy sacred..i am willing to not give you proof that your in error

mate your a child[I was an athiest for most of my life
in my own time i sought info..to REFUTE the liars
instead i found proof
[god ALLOWS us to believe in him OR NOT}
till he realised i SOUGHT to know of him
he politely stayed away

""A hypocritical methodology if ever I saw one.""
try it someday

its not till you realise..YOUR not doing anything
that you seek to know him who does it all

""Yet atheism is not a stance on anything.
It is simply a lack of a belief in a god.""

says the child
immature in his faith
and trusting only his own omnipotance..lol

i listen to you..
yet hear the younger me..its sad and funny

both at the same time
i..but for time..was you

lol

OUG atheism is a lack of belief in the god or gods claims, that is all, it is the only thing atheists have in common. It's not a claim. (oh btw where is the evidence for your claim? sidestepped much? LOL)

Outside of that disbelief, there are many things some atheists have in common, and those that are concerned over similar things work together in that regard. So what. I know religious people working on the same things I do against the same religious structures I am. Muslims, jews, christians or non believers are involved in the FIRIS campaign as just one example.

By all means show me that your god could possibly exist and I will change my opinion, but in the meantime you have nothing. It's just empty air and all you can do is try to get a rise out of atheists that are pretty much laughing at the type of methodology you are using to deal with that lack of evidence you have. You missed the train, life, science and human intellect is moving ahead, there is no controversy ... there is just a few people like you that claim to speak for many :)

The mentality you have in asking for evidence that you can be good without a belief in a god just shows the bigotry some religious people have, that you cannot even accept that from your life experiences. I think the vast majority of religious people are not like you, and I love it when people such as yourself speak up the way you are as that reinforces why disbelievers have problems with religion. I'm not out to convince YOU, I just want to raise awareness of what non believers have to put up with. You are part of that mechanism.

So keep flapping your arms, writing stuff that is near impossible to discern what you are trying to say, you are doing an awesome job of putting forward the religious perspective :) hats off to you, and thank you :)

You work with sweaty palms
thumping out on your keyboard
to try and make it into..the empty athiest edifice of claims
about the NOTHING..

you yourself hold,

because you know
such a position is weak.

every action has a cause
energy cant be CREATED..nor destroyed

so where does the electrical image of you go
when you die?

""I do not have to accept..any science
to be atheist.""

yep i noted that
lol..only too easy to..*chose to be ignorant

""I can say I don't know what created the world,
the universe or life,..I would still be atheist
because I do not accept your claims of a god.""

im not claiming anything
only asking for explaining..

but clearly
you dont know what..you chose*..to not know of

im trying to help a child comprehend
about a thing/subject..so far..they chose to ignore

""The claims of science are not the claims of atheism""

we agree..!

"",they simply threaten your lack of evidence.""

i got my OWN proof
by my OWN chosing

you got your own..lACK of proof/belief
*by your own chosing

is That is something..you just can't handle
nor get your head around...lol

Hey, you are only fooling yourself.lol

great words
right back at ya
[me]..lol

David

The religious propaganda about atheism does verge on the hysterical at times and the reasons are obviously self-fulfilling. Religious leaders are flailing about to protect losing ground. The nonsense surrounding Ethics Clases and risks to Chaplains in schools are good examples.

While I agree the risk of 'threat' from atheists is small I did note:

"But atheists would like to give all citizens the right to an ideologically indoctrination-free upbringing so the adult can make its own choices as to whether it wants to be religious or not."

Many would argue this right belongs to parents. How would you impose this indoctrination-free upbringing? The reality is it is neither possible nor desirable to prevent parents from raising kids within their own ideological framework.

Every parent manipulates and guides their children to their base values. There are all sorts of indoctrinations from parents. I raised my kids to respect environment,to be respectful and egalitarian, and threw in some Centre/Left ideology in their somewhere. My children have managed to form their own very individual set of beliefs, some different to mine, when they entered adulthood. I experienced the same with my family.

I don't have a problem with an Atheist 'counterfoil' to religious influences. But Atheism like any other belief can be at risk of extremism. Why wouldn't it not be? Much depends on the players. It does not hurt to engage in some self-checking or self-examination even for atheists.

As you said atheists and theists are not homogenous groups.

Events like Atheists Conventions are fine and allow like-minded people to discuss ethics, philosophy, science and reason but I would hate to see it morph into something more. I don't think atheism is a 'threat' at all in Western democracies thanks to commonly accepted and cherished beliefs (many enshrined in Law) about freedom of speech, democracy, secularism and tolerance.

Pelican

Do you think that atheists could be coerced by similar power seeking types who have taken advantage of much in religion?

I tend to the optimistic, that atheists by their nature are not susceptible to too much authoritarian grandstanding. For example, I take some of what Christopher Hitchens has to say with a grain of salt - he has a rather traditional attitude to women and supported the war in Afghanistan.

And that's the point, atheists are just as likely to disagree with each other, let alone with religious people.

In conclusion, all the above makes the claims of atheism as a controlling ideology sound like faux warnings from people with vested interests in undermining atheism.